Big Bill Haywood and the Radical Union Movement

Haywood had little time to ponder the IWW when he returned to Denver from Chicago. The Western Federation was
pledged to join the new union but was not yet a part of it in
1905; official affiliation required the endorsement of the
miners' convention. Moreover, while Haywood's interest in
national industrial unionism did not flag, he was still secretary‐
treasurer of the WFM and there was more than enough business with the miners to keep him busy. The tragic Cripple
Creek strike was limping toward its conclusion, and Haywood
was concerned with assisting the many miners forced to look
elsewhere for employment. During the autumn of 1905 he
toyed briefly with the idea of organizing a cowboys' union for
the Industrial Workers of the World through his brother-in‐
law, Tom Minor, but little came of the notion.

Haywood's relations with Charles Moyer were outwardly
friendly, but the union's setback at Cripple Creek had caused
tension between the two. Still, Haywood's position seemed secure when the episode occurred which, while it did not maintain Haywood's position in Denver, catapulted the burly westerner to national and even international prominence. In one
sense it is a most easy tale to relate, for the undisputed facts
are few. The broad implications of the case which made it a cause célèbre, the passions and the invective which it inspired,
and its significant effects on the career of Big Bill Haywood,
require more extensive discussion.

The chain of events known to posterity as "The Haywood
Case" began late on the evening of December 30, 1905. Frank

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